Brave Little Girl

We've known for a while that Leah is a pretty brave little girl. She learns from the best, I guess...those three big brothers sure give her some ideas. Today we were at the pool and she was swimming around as usual, around the steps & ledge in the 3 ft area. However, she also wanted to go out to 4 ft, jump off the ladder, etc., and was really enjoying going under water. I'm there, of course, holding her. Then, she decided that just wasn't enough excitement. She was very persistent and wanted to go to the deep end and see what that was about since that's where the boys were jumping in with their life jackets on. She knew exactly where she wanted to jump from and it just happened to be 5-6 ft deep. I let her do it once and she had a ball, while I, on the other hand, tried to hold her up & tiptoe back to a little more shallow water so I could stand comfortably and hold her up. She couldn't have been happier. I just hope she doesn't want to grow up too fast; sure made it seem like she was a big girl being so brave.

On the walk home from the pool, it made me think about how her days as the baby in the family are getting short already. I can't believe we only have about 4 weeks - probably at the most - until our new little one is introduced. The kids are all so precious and Leah is just a sweet little princess. She sure captures a lot of hearts already.

Jacob's Quotable Quotes II

Well, lets just say that Jacob has recently been very noticing of his own anatomy and its proportions. Last night and today both, he's let me know that "Mom, my p*! - p*! is big!"

I just didn't really say too much. This will pass, right?

Nathaniel's Quotes

Nathaniel has had a few good things to say lately...

- we have really cleaned out our garage lately, but with 6 bikes, 3 cozy coupes, 2 single strollers, 2 double strollers, balls, etc., etc., etc., we still only park one car in there. Our neighbors had their garage door open yesterday when we walked by and Nathaniel said, "Wow, Mom, look: two cars inside the garage!" Humorous.

- "Mom, your body is cool; it can make milk. How does it know how to do that?"

- Nighttime prayers last night: "Mom, repeat after me...God, please let someone buy our house...fast. St. Joseph, please let someone buy our house...fast. A-men."

Congrats Aunt Beth & Uncle Robert

May 23 was a special day for the family...Aunt Beth was married to Robert - congratulations to them. It was a beautiful day and it was smooth sailing throughout. We had a nice time there and we wish them the best. Patrick did a great job with the kids as I was busy a good part of the day with being in the wedding. It was great to see so many friends & family at the event. Here are a few pictures from the beautiful day (the family picture from the blog title is also from the wedding day)...afterwards, I realized I didn't get to capture much of the entire day...had some from before the wedding and then a few at Mom & Dad's between the wedding & reception. The wedding was held at St. Francis Borgia Church in Washington, MO & the reception was held at Jesuit hall, there at church. Very beautiful.

Happy Mother's Day to me! (A little late recap)

Mother's Day this year was very nice. We went to mass with all my handsome, beautiful family dressed in their Sunday best: suits, dresses & more. I was spoiled for the day with lunch & dinner prepared for me. For dinner we had grilled steaks, grilled vegetables, and gazpacho soup - nice and fresh and seasonal. Desserts for the day included Beth's favorite - angel food cake/strawberry chiffon and my childhood popular dessert of ice cream pie. Yum, yum! On Saturday of that weekend, Patrick took the boys to Lowe's and they made me very nice planters. They are really able to do some work on their own these days. Leyton & Nathaniel also made me a present at school this year. They were teacups with their own artwork decorating them along with a teabag and some honey. They said, "A cup of tea for Mommy & me." I was honored to receive them and they were so proud. I guess I'm into that phase now, where I can truly see why when your kids make something for you, it's one of the best gifts. Seeing their pride in giving it to you and how hard they've worked, it just makes it so special. I'm so blessed to have my family. I told the kids that if it weren't for God sending them to us, I wouldn't even be a mom. Am I worthy of these precious gifts?

FYI-Jacob wasn't in the mood for his own picture...hard to get everyone together!

Leyton's Quotes Today

1. "The fact of the matter is, Mom, is that these eggs are good. You're the best; thanks for making them."

2. "And now, welcome to the Kindergarten Catholic Speedway." (just playing around - thought it was cute he called it that)

Nashville 2009

The week after Easter, we were able to make a family trip to Nashville. We hadn't been there since fall, 2006, so we were all excited to return. I think this is the first vacation that Leyton & Nathaniel really remember, so they have talked about it for a long time and how they wanted to return. If I had to change one thing, I would have hoped that maybe I'd have made it to the Grand Ole Opry to see some of my favorites - like Dierks Bentley would have been great! Oh well, the resort was just so close to there, I was thinking I'd go if there was someone playing that
I liked. We typically have a vacation in the summer, but we figured by the end of May, I will be 34 weeks pregnant, we didn't figure it was the time to make a trip too far from home.

We arrived on Sunday and spend Monday hanging around the resort & swimming. I think we managed to swim every day. The kids are all really enjoying swimming and becoming more and more brave. Jacob stands well in 3-ft deep areas now and Leyton & Nathaniel are really branching out away from the sides, jumping in some, etc. And Leah was ready to play all independently on the steps and as far as you'd let her go. She's made a lot of progress since we swam in Branson back in February.

Other activities for the week included all the boys going golfing at a "real golf course" while Leah & I shopped/browsed. We also returned to the Opryland hotel to walk around and enjoy the beautiful scenery. I need to post the pictures we have from our first trip to compare the same poses/background - it's cute to see how much the kids look different over the 2 1/2 years (standing by the guitar-playing animals)! Hmm, what else did we do? Another day we played on the resort playground - basketball, swinging, etc. and we created our own putting area. The boys also did some nature hunting - ladybugs, snail, etc. They are so much fun. Oh, looking at my pictures I was reminded of the fact that I think Nathaniel wore the same outfit every day we were there. Each night he'd ask me if I'd wash it so he could wear it again - thank goodness for condos with washer & dryer! I liked the picture of Jacob with Patrick, too, for some reason - caring Dad taking care of his Jakey.

The trip itself was really nice. The kids do very well in the car. We drove to Grandma & Grandpa's first, to break up the trip, and then made the rest of the trip. I guess it's about 10 hours total from our house.